"Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."
-- George Orwell, Politics and the English Language

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Saturday, March 25, 2017

The Wides of March

Here's some advice for the counter-maga protesters: let the maroons have their little party, while they still can. Hold your own rallies tomorrow, or next weekend, and compare attendance counts. Take photos and harass them online. Our crowd is bigger than their crowd, that sort of thing.

Better yet, show up and harass your congress-critters, let 'em know what time it is, and that you won't forget in eighteen months -- in fact, you'll organize and mobilize and be back in greater numbers at the voting booth. Trust me, they are already noticing, and they are getting worried. Keep up that momentum and diversify your protest portfolio, and watch them run. Hit 'em where it really hurts, and keep hitting.

For the life of me, I have never understood the appeal of standing around in a public place with a sign indicating my opinion, as part of a greater group of like-minded souls. It just seems so....meaningless, a theatrical act of choir-preaching. Does it convince anyone of anything, has anyone ever changed their mind on something by observing a mob in the public square agitating for something or other? I know I haven't, and I'll bet you haven't either. I don't understand the point of candlelight vigils, either, so maybe it's just me.
And it's not necessarily a general disdain of crowds; over the years, I've been to dozens of huge stadium concerts and sports events. The crowd is not the issue. The activity -- and the point of the activity -- is the issue.

I would offer a huge exception to the recent womens' marches post-inauguration; they were massive, peaceful, and got their point across quite effectively. And no doubt there will be more in the coming months. These are worth focusing on. Mobilizing your OC splinter cell to block the Bolsa Chica beach trail does not foil the Drumpfkins' mission -- for them, it reinforces it. Sometimes you just have to let the babies have their tantrums and wear themselves out. One of their biggest excuses for voting for King Asshole, right or wrong, was the feeling that their opinions were being squelched by safe-space screamers. I think that sort of thing cuts both ways, but YMMV.

And seriously, what is the deal with the cultists and their photos with a cutout of the angry cheeto? Maybe there are doppelgangers on the left doing the same with Obama and Hillary cutouts. I've never seen such things, but for the record, it's just as stupid. Fuck empty symbolism, ferchrissake do something meaningful.

What the fuck are you going to do with that photo of you with your arm around a Clownstick cutout, show your friends at the bar? "Ayup, thet shore is a fahn cutout cha got their, Flem. He's purty." Come on, people. You're supposed to be adults. Some of us are trying to have a civilization. Quit acting like a bunch of starstruck teenage girls and grow the fuck up.

Thoughtful people change their minds on things as life progresses and experience accrues, but it's generally done by an exchange of ideas, or (again) experiential knowledge. It seems that if you're changing your stance on something based on the number of people you saw in the street jabbering about it, it probably wasn't a very deeply held opinion in the first place.